Anti-New Year’s resolutions

If you’re new here: Hi, I’m Ryan Hoover, founder of Product Hunt and early-stage investor at Weekend Fund. I also helped write Hooked and occasionally publish essays. This newsletter highlights my latest experiments, essays, and curiosities. If someone forwarded this to you, subscribe along with 25k+ others here. :)

1. Maybe we shouldn’t be setting New Year’s resolutions. I’ve almost completed Downshift’s Annual Review (h/t my buddy David Spinks). It’s a useful tool to reflect and plan for an aligned 2025.

2. The quality of questions is highly correlated with the richness of conversation. Here’s a list of revealing questions.

3. More on good questions: We’re Not Really Strangers is a useful card game to get to know someone more deeply.

4. I’m learning how to play the handpan. Last year, I tinkered in Ableton and enjoyed working on this project, but I often found “perfectionism” rob me from enjoying the process. For Christmas, I was gifted handpan lessons. The ephemerality of an organic instrument is freeing. Maybe I’ll become Malte Marten when I grow up.

5. Are plastics in our food poisoning us? Nat Friedman instigated PlasticList, a project to test the plastic contents of hundreds of commonly consumed food items. Thankfully, LaCroix seems to be safe.

6. Anu Atluru is one of my favorite independent writers. She has a special ability to articulate things we’ve all experienced or thought. Her 2024 reflection highlights select snippets from the 52 essays she published last year.

7. Lane 8 recently released a 2024 retrospective (h/t my friend, JT). He’s touring early next year. I have yet to see him live but hoping to change that.

8. More music. Fred Again recently released this melodic set, recorded at the (massive) coliseum in LA with 100 lucky people.

9. Substance is wild. The film is best watched without context. So I’ll leave it at that. ;)

10. I added Erik Torenberg’s new podcast into my rotation. It’s all about relationships.

11. May we all achieve mushin (無心).

12. I like what Ben and Jordan are building with Next Play. If you’re trying to figure out your next career move, take a look.

13. The future is going to be more fun. This presentation on how to apply game design to apps highlights AI’s ability to make software far more adaptable to learning curves and learning preferences. This isn’t about gamification with badges and cheesy progression mechanics, but instead a transformation in how software interfaces with us more personally.

14. The LA fires are devastating. I was glued to Watch Duty last week (screenshot below from Jan 9th), monitoring its potential spread to a rental home in the canyon. We were fortunate. Many friends weren’t. An estimated ~200K people were instructed to evacuate with insured losses exceeding $20B. And the fire is still going. :(

15. “I am rich and have no idea what to do with my life.” Vinay openly shares his challenges in finding purpose after selling Loom for nearly $1B. Many of my peers, also in their mid-30s, are similarly lost. This was far less common among my friend group in my 20s. I think part of this is influenced by an abundance of opportunity. I may expand on this in a future essay.

16. I’m visiting Nosara, Costa Rica, later this year with friends. I’m planning to surf (or at least try). Any fun adventures to recommend?

17. Venture capital is back open. Every year after around mid-December things slow down as founders push their fundraise into the new year. At Weekend Fund, we invest in early-stage startups. I’m particularly interested in the weird, so please keep us in mind when chatting with your formidable founder friends. We love to share carry.